Control of chaos: methods and applications in mechanics

A survey of the field related to control of chaotic systems is presented. Several major branches of research that are discussed are feed-forward (‘non-feedback’) control (based on periodic excitation of the system), the ‘Ott–Grebogi–Yorke method’ (based on the linearization of the Poincaré map), the ‘Pyragas method’ (based on a time-delayed feedback), traditional for control-engineering methods including linear, nonlinear and adaptive control. Other areas of research such as control of distributed (spatio-temporal and delayed) systems, chaotic mixing are outlined. Applications to control of chaotic mechanical systems are discussed.